Related Species

The species was described by Sclater, who named it Icterus xanthomus (1862, Collection of American Birds, page 131), based on specimens collected on Puerto Rico. The Yellow-shouldered Blackbird and Tawny-shouldered Blackbird (A. humeralis) of Cuba and northwestern Haiti constitute a superspecies (Sibley and Monroe 1990). Lanyon (1994), Lanyon and Omland (1999), and Barker et al. (2008) used phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial DNA (cytochrome b) to investigate the relationships within Agelaius blackbirds. They all identified two clades in Agelaius, a North American group (phoeniceus, tricolor, and assimilis) and a Caribbean group (xanthomus, humeralis).